There’s a good reason gentle nutrition is the last principle of intuitive eating. Without doing some work to heal your relationship with food, gentle nutrition can easily become yet another a diet. However saving it for last can make it feel like a bit of a mystery. This blog post helps demystify what gentle nutrition looks like so you are able to bring non-diet nutrition into your intuitive eating practice ..read more

In this world of diet culture and fatphobia, where disordered eating is shockingly common, what is normal eating anyway? This blog post explores the definition of normal eating, and discusses some of the problems with labeling eating as normal and abnormal ..read more

Most people who come to intuitive eating have recognized how depriving themselves of the food they enjoy or adequate food fuels overeating and binging, but there’s another type of restriction that impacts your relationship with food. This blog post explains how mental restriction impacts your relationship with food, and four tips for overcoming it ..read more

If you're familiar with Intuitive Eating, then you know about the hunger and fullness scale, a tool to help you get back in touch with your hunger and fullness cues. This blog post answers some of the common questions and challenges I hear from clients in my practice when trying to apply the hunger fullness scale to their eating.  Working with clients on intuitive eating, one tool that is commonly used is the hunger and fullness scale. I did an in depth run down on how to use the hunger and fullness scale in this blog post, which I’d encourage you to read, but if you haven’t had a chance ..read more

Years of yo-yo dieting and disordered eating can get you out of touch with internal cues, like your body's hunger and fullness signals. Learn how to use the hunger fullness scale in intuitive eating, a tool that can help you can back in touch with your food needs. One of the lies diet culture sells is the idea that left to your own devices, you wouldn’t be able to manage eating. Without calories, points, macros, or a list of good and bad foods to keep things in check, you would just gorge yourself silly. Diet culture teaches you not to trust yourself, that you need their external rules to kee ..read more

Your weight is not your worth, and yet we live in a society that does value certain bodies over others. So it makes sense that you might need a reminder of who you are outside of a body size. This blog post shares one of my favorite creative activities for building self worth. I mentioned “petals of self worth,” the activity in this blog post, in my last post on exercises to improve body image, so I thought this post could use a quick refresh and reshare. If you’re someone who enjoys art as part of your healing, I think you’ll love this exercise. If you’re a clinician, this is also a great on ..read more

Body image healing is a lifelong journey, not a thing that can be “fixed” with a body positive mantra or by choosing to love your looks. Still, if you’re a “homework” person, you might find it helpful to have specific exercises or activities to do for improving body image. This blog post shares five of my favorites! Part of healing your relationship with food is healing your relationship with your body. However, as anyone who has done this work can tell you, improving body image is hard work. Because bodies change through life, both in appearance and functionality, body image healing is a lif ..read more

Most people benefit from some degree of meal planning. However, the goal should be ensuring you have enough satisfying food to eat, not to rigidly control what you eat. This blog post shares a simple, non-diet tool you can use for meal planning in intuitive eating. What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “meal planning.” Is it an image of meticulously packed and portioned meals in matching tupperware containers (am I the only one who doesn’t have a single matching set left in my house??)? Does each meal have some combination of food that involves at least two of the following: grilled chi ..read more

Eating disorders and IBS are both much more common than people realize, and there’s a lot of overlap between both conditions. Unfortunately, much of the advice for IBS can make disordered eating worse. Part 3 in this series on intuitive eating and IBS discusses the relationship between eating disorders and IBS, and strategies for coping with IBS when you’re in eating disorder recovery. This post is part of a series on intuitive eating and IBS. Read part 1 to learn more about what IBS is, and a discussion of the pros and cons of different dietary approaches to treatment, part 2 to learn approa ..read more

If you struggle with IBS, before cutting out or eliminating foods (especially ones you love!) read this blog post to learn non-diet approaches that can help manage your symptoms. In part 1 of my series on Intuitive Eating and IBS, I introduced what IBS is, some of the possible causes/factors that contribute to IBS symptoms, and how intuitive eating and a non-diet approach, especially when combined with medical nutrition therapy, can help support IBS management. I also broadly discussed commonly recommended therapeutic diets for IBS, and some of the potential pros/cons of elimination diets. Gi ..read more